How to use Windows XP Embedded using Vmware Workstation 6.5.0

How to use Windows XP Embedded using
Vmware Workstation 6.5.0
by Wayne Humphrey
September 2008
Applies to Microsoft Windows XP Embedded with Service Pack 2 and Feature Pack 2007,
Microsoft® Windows® Preinstallation Environment (Windows PE) and VMware© Workstation
6.5.0.
Summary
This document describes the following procedures:
Using Vmware Workstation to host a Windows XP Embedded image on your Windows XP Professional
machine
Creating the Windows XP Embedded image in a single partition, using Windows PE to transfer the image
Contents
Creating the Virtual Machine
Preparing the Virtual Disk with Windows XPE
Capturing the Hardware Information
Creating the Hardware Component
Finalizing the Component
Building Your Windows XP Embedded Image
Transferring the Windows XP Embedded Image from the Development Machine to VMware
Running Windows XP Embedded
For More Information
Creating the Virtual Machine
To create a new Vmware Image, Select File New New Virtual Machine....
A New Virtual Machine Wizard opens (Figure 1). This wizard will guide you through the steps to configure
your virtual machine.
Figure 1: New Virtual Machine Wizard.
Select Next >
We will configure this later, as if you chose the image now it will look for a XP Key which we not going to
use. So Select “I will install the operating system later”
Figure 2: Guest Operating System Installation Wizard.
Select Next >
Select “Microsoft Windows” as your guest operating system, and “Windows XP Professional” as your
Version.
Figure 3: Select a Guest Operating System Wizard.
Select Next >
Select a Name and Location for your Virtual Machine.
Figure 4: New the Virtual Machine Wizard.
Select Next >
Select your desired Size of your Virtual Disk. 1GB should be Ample, if you do decide to go bigger than two,
from my experience always use split the disks into 2GB files as some File Systems cannot handle files larger
than 2GB.
Figure 5: Specify Disk Capacity Wizard.
Select Next >
You are now done setting the Virtual Machine up.
Figure 6: Ready to Create Virtual Machine Wizard.
Select Finish.
You will now have the Virtual Machine open in Vmware Workstation
Figure 7: Virtual Machine.
Double click on the CD/DVD. You will be presented with the properties of the CD/DVD (Figure 8). Select
“Use ISO image file:” Then Select “Browse...” and select the first Windows XP Embedded CD.
Figure 8: CD/DVD Properties.
Select OK.
Preparing the Virtual Disk with Windows PE
To prepare the Virtual Disk, you must partition the disk and then format the partition.
Partition the Disk
To start your new Virtual Machine, use the Windows PE CD (Figure8). The Windows XP Embedded
evaluation CD is available at this web site. It is also available from a Microsoft Embedded Authorized
Distributor.
Click
Power On in Vmware Workstation
To partition the disk:
1. Type the following command from a command prompt: DISKPART
2. Type the following commands to create the partition:
SELECT DISK 0
CLEAN
CREATE PARTITION PRIMARY
This creates a partition however big you selected (Figure5).
3. Type the following command to verify the partition:
LIST PARTITION
4. Type the following commands to verify that the partition is active:
SELECT PARTITION 1
ACTIVE
5. Type EXIT to quit
DISKPART.
6. Type EXIT again to reboot Windows PE.
Format the Partition
FORMAT C: /FS:NTFS /q
At the command prompt, type the following command to format the new partition:
Capturing the Hardware Information
To develop a Windows XP Embedded image for a device, you must use the Windows XP Embedded Target
Analyzer tool (tap.exe) to automatically capture the information about the hardware you want to support.
Tap.exe (Target Analyzer 32 bit version) is available on the Windows PE CD in the \XPe folder.
When you run tap.exe, the resulting Devices.pmq file is created. This is an XML file containing the
description of all devices identified in your hardware.
To save the results of tap.exe in the host machine, create a mapped drive from the host machine inside the
Virtual Machine.
Open a command prompt and type the following command:
NET USE Z: \\xx.xx.xx\XPe
where xx.xx.xx is the IP address of your machine. The default folder is: C:\Windows Embedded Images\
For the purposes of this article, we assume you created a share named XPe that points to this folder.
If we assume that X: is the CD drive and Z: is the letter assigned to this network share, use the following
command to move the TAP output to the location you want:
X:\XPE\TAP /O Z:\VMware.pmq
The following figure (Figure 9) shows the result of this process:
Figure 8: Moving the TAP output.
You can now switch from the Virtual PC to your development machine and start Component Designer.
From the Start menu, choose All Programs, then choose Microsoft Windows Embedded Studio.
Creating the Hardware Component
Use Component Designer to create components imported from the TAP output:
1. From the File menu, choose Import.
2. Select the file, VMware.pmq, which you created in the shared folder. In our example, the file can
be found in the C:\Windows Embedded Images\folder.
Finalizing the Component
To finalize the component:
1. In the configuration editor, expand the Components node in the left panel and select the new
component created by the import process.
2. Give the component a meaningful name, such as VirtualPC.
3. From the Prototype field, click Browse (Figure 4).
Figure 9: Microsoft Component Designer.
Select the Repositories and then choose “Windows XP Embedded Client (x86) Feature Pack 2007. You can
optionally select and deselect items detected in your hardware while building your image.
1. From the File menu, choose Save to save your component. A file with extension SLD is created with
your component definition.
With the component finalized, we still need to import it into the Windows XP Embedded database.
Use the following procedure:
1. From the Tools menu, choose Component Database Manager to open this tool.
2. Select Import and choose the SLD file that you just created.
Figure 10: Import SLD.
Building your Windows XP Embedded Image
You use Target Designer to build the Windows XP Embedded image. You can choose the components
needed in our device from the more than 11,000 components that exist in the database.
We will start by creating a new project.
1. From the File menu, choose New and name the project, for example VMware-XPe.
2. Select the components you want in your image.
You should first choose the component you just added to the database, in this example, the Virtual PC
component. This component addresses your hardware and brings the device drivers you will need.
You must now select the software components you want. We will use the Kiosk/Gaming Console macro
component, a design template that can be found under Design Templates.
The Runtime Quick Start Helper macro, found in the Software / Test & Development node, is another
component that will speed up the process. This macro component resolves most of the common
component dependencies that are needed to create a Winlogon run-time image.
Next, update the settings for the User Interface Core component. Expand the User Interface Core
component and select settings. The settings appear in the details pane. Select to Show Run on Start Menu,
Show All Programs List on Start Menu, and any other settings you want to apply.
To build our image, press F5 to check dependencies. All necessary underlying components are added to the
image.
When the Check Dependencies process finishes, press F7 build the run-time image.
Transferring the Windows XP Embedded Image
from the Development Machine to the Virtual
PC
We must now copy the Windows XP Embedded image from our host operating system to the Virtual PC,
using the networking of VPC in the same way we created the TAP output in the shared folder.
To copy the image to the Virtual PC:
On the virtual machine, open a command prompt and type the following command:
ROBOCOPY z:\ c:\ *.* /E
You can find the ROBOCOPY utility in the Windows Server 2003 Resource Kit Tools.
Access this tool in VPC by using the NET USE command to map to another folder. For example you can map
\UTIL, a shared folder where you would have copied ROBOCOPY.EXE, from the host machine to the VPC.
Type the following command:
NET USE Y: \\xx.xx.xx\Util
You can then run ROBOCOPY from the Y: drive.
Running Windows XP Embedded
After you detach the CD, your virtual machine will boot the Windows XP Embedded image. The first boot
will go through the First Boot Agent (FBA) process, which builds the machine registry, enumerates the
device drivers, registers all components, and so on. At the end of FBA, the machine will automatically
reboot. When your machine restarts, it will be running Windows XP Embedded.
For More Information
Be sure to check this web site for the latest technical information, as well as the tutorials.
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